


Only For a Moment

by LuxAve



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Angry!Hiro, Gen, Spoilers, ghost!Tadashi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-09
Updated: 2015-02-09
Packaged: 2018-03-11 07:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3319577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuxAve/pseuds/LuxAve
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Kept wishing I could hug you one more time. Even only for a moment.” </p>
<p>Tadashi gave his brother a squeeze. “Only for a moment.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only For a Moment

 It was brief, all too fast for Hiro to really comprehend at first. The touch was fleeting, a small, barely-there touch across his arm.

 

But he felt it. He knew he did.

 

He turned around, slowly. He’d seen movies where this has happened before, you know, those sappy border-line chick-flick movies; a loved one passes on and the one left behind sees their face everywhere.

 

Or they feel them.

 

And not in the ‘they’re-always-here’ sense; but in the ‘I-felt-something-touch-me’ way.

 

And Hiro hoped.

 

But nothing was there. Nobody was standing behind him.

 

He sighed and went back to looking at the computer screen he was previously using, with a heavy heart.

 

It’s been three months; Hiro should be out of the mourning phase, or close to it. But every morning, he wakes up and is immediately greeted by Tadashi’s side of the room. Empty as it had been ever since that night, never to be filled with his older brother’s presence again. Even if the divider was closed, Hiro still knew what was behind it, the fate of that side of the room. 

 

And his mourning process starts all over again.

 

He couldn’t pay attention to what he was attempting to read on the screen, too caught up in memories flashing through his mind of his brother.  A memory of when they were 6 and 13 and decided they wanted to build a cushion and blanket fort between their beds, the time when they tried to make a hovercraft and crashed into the café. There was one time where Hiro was working on rocket boots for Mochi and woke Tadashi up – practically giving the young adult a heart attack.

 

Hiro chuckled at that memory. Tadashi had been so mad, while he applauded the boots, he frowned upon the whole waking him up ordeal.

 

Something touched Hiro’s arm again.

 

This time, the teen whipped around like his life depended on it.

 

“Hello?” He softly called out, eyeing the empty room while he rubbed his arm.

 

“Knuckled head.” A disembodied voice replied.

 

The hair on the back of Hiro’s neck stood up and shivers ran down his spine.  “’Dashi?”

 

He was faint, but Hiro could see his brother, just a fading picture of what Tadashi had looked like _that_ night, before anything happened. 

 

Tadashi smiled. “Hey.” He reached up to run his hand through Hiro’s hair; Hiro, himself, thought his brother’s hand would just go through him, but was surprised when in fact, his hair was pushed back and messed up.

 

“Hey.” The younger finally greeted, albeit in the quietest voice he had ever spoken in.

 

“How are you doing?” The older Hamada asked as he watched his brother’s expression.

 

Hiro knew not to lie, Tadashi would just see right through it. “Horrible.”

 

A sigh escaped Tadashi’s lips. “I’m sorry.”

 

Hiro sent an annoyed glare to his brother. ‘I’m sorry’? That’s all the ghost standing before him had to say? ‘Sorry’ wasn’t going to bring his brother back. ‘Sorry’ wasn’t going to fix the past so they _both_ could live nice, long lives. How could they both work on their inventions and projects together when one of them was dead? “Sorry? 'I’m sorry?' That’s not going to fix anything.”

 

“Hiro-” Tadashi began but was cut off.

 

“No! Let me say this!” Hiro snapped. “I’ve been holding emotions in for three months, and I want to – going to! I’m going to say them.”

 

His older brother nodded in understanding.

 

“Now,” Hiro huffed. “I don’t blame you for running in there, you have a hero complex, so of course you’d do something like that.”

 

“I don’t have a-” Tadashi tried to talk.

 

“I’m. Not. Done.” The younger barked.

 

“Sorry.” The Apparition apologized and fell quiet once more.

 

“I can understand why you did that. Although I don’t understand that you either didn’t know, or refused to let it hinder you, that the building was going to fall, or something was going to explode in there. All those chemicals just lying around! An explosion was _bound_ to happen, and yet, you just ran in there with a seemingly blind eye!” Hiro continued his rant. “Look what happened! You have a tombstone! You’re 21 and you have a tombstone! What you _should_ have is a beer or something alcoholic like that! Not a damn tombstone!” He looked away from his brother’s ghost, even though he wanted to keep eye contact, knowing at any second he could vanish, but Hiro couldn’t. He couldn’t watch Tadashi’s expressions as he faces the repercussions.

 

“You know,” Hiro started talking again, but in a softer, gentler voice. “Callaghan survived.” His brown eyes flicked over to see Tadashi.

 

A nod was all he got in response.

 

Hiro fell quiet for a moment, tears building up in his eyes. He tried to blink them back, but failed miserably.

 

“I’ve been watching over you.” Tadashi added just as quiet as Hiro last spoke.

 

“Such a mother hen.” The younger commented absently, pouting and crossing his arms like a child.

 

A soft smile graced Tadashi’s face as he once again reached over and ruffled his little brother’s hair. “If it’s any consolation, I’m really proud of you. All of you actually; but mostly you.”

 

“I haven’t really done anything.” Hiro looked over at him.

 

“Now, that’s a lie.” The older, nonliving Hamada leaned against the desk Hiro was sitting at. “You, ha as hard as it is to believe it, you created a superhero team.” He laughed. “You saved EVYERONE,” He gestured around. “And Abigail.” He added as an afterthought. “You’ve rebuilt Baymax. And you finally enrolled at SFIT. Putting that big brain of yours to use now.”

 

Hiro looked Tadashi dead, no pun intended, in the eyes. And he could see nothing but proudness shining in them. “If I were to create a time machine-” Now it was his turn to be cut off.

 

A laugh and a shake of Tadashi’s head stopped Hiro from finishing his sentence. “I was meant to die in that fire. Nothing you do, could have said, or done differently would stop me from somehow ending up there.”

 

Hiro felt defeated suddenly. He had been toying with the idea of time travel for a few weeks now; going so far as to sketch some things out and possible equations and objects he’d need. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yeah.” The elder of the two muttered.

 

Hiro looked down. Well, there went that plan. “Oh.” He felt a pressure on the top of his head that made him look up.

 

“I’m sorry.” His older brother whispered again, just as sincere as he had moments ago. “I didn’t intend for this to happen. I didn’t mean to leave you and Aunt Cass.”

 

“H-how do you know that a time machine couldn’t work?” Hiro inquired.

 

A nervous chuckle left Tadashi’s lips. “It’s just- I mean-” He kept stuttering. “I just know. And trust me, what actually happened was the quickest and least painful of all the ways.”

 

A sad look took over the little brother’s expression.

 

“That’s not what you should be focusing on.” Tadashi groaned, he could practically see the thoughts running through his brother’s mind. “Look,” He changed the subject. “I know this is difficult for you, I know this is hard to go through.”

 

“Really? You know?” A little bit of anger seeped back into Hiro’s words. “I have one living relative now, all because my brother tried to play hero; which that scene was done in vain, if we’re being honest here.”

 

“We are.”  Came Tadashi’s curt reply.

 

“I think, while you were _trying_ to be selfless, you did a very selfish thing by leaving your family. Robert Callaghan was a great mind, yes, he pioneered a lot of things, yes. And even though he’s sitting in prison, he’s still alive. _And_ he gets his daughter back. While Aunt Cass, your friends and I stopped said teacher,and saved his daughter, but we don’t get you back.” Hiro stood up to stand in front of the ghost. “That isn’t fair. We wouldn’t even had been there if you hadn’t taken me to your stupid school. If you had just drove me to that damn bot fight, I wouldn’t had seen that school and gotten interested. But you just had to lie and take me there and inform me of that stupid, stupid showcase.” He ranted. “We wouldn’t had been standing on that bridge, we wouldn’t have been anywhere near that building and you wouldn’t be-” He stopped himself from talking, but still gestured to the Apparition.

 

Tadashi sighed. “Yes, I would have been.”

 

A confused looked passed Hiro’s face. “What.”

 

“I still would have been at SFIT, I just wouldn’t had been there to cheer you on. I would have been there just looking at everything. I actually would have been _in_ the building when it caught fire.” The spirit of the older Hamada told the younger, living Hamada. “Like I said, no matter what, I would have been at that showcase.”

 

Hiro wanted to ask what would be the end result had that timeline of event happened. “What-”

 

“Roof would have fallen, would have pinned me down. In the heart of it all.” Tadashi knew what Hiro wanted to ask. “The way it happened was quicker and less painful, I told you that also. Don’t you listen?”

 

Hiro shook his head, in a moment of feign normality, where they were just arguing and Tadashi was standing before him, in the flesh. Then a thought occurred to him. Was this going to be the last time he would see Tadashi? Be able to speak to him, with him, and have Tadashi answer? Tears welled in his eyes once more, but this time, he didn’t fight them. He looked away from his brother though, if this was going to be the last time, Tadashi wasn’t going to have the last look at his little brother be of Hiro crying.

 

The elder stepped forward and willed himself to become a physical being to give Hiro a hug, tears falling down his face as well. He always hated to see his little brother cry. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He kept repeating in a murmur.

 

“This isn’t going to be the last time I see you, right?” Hiro finally voiced the question, and the silence that followed, while in reality had been not even two seconds, felt like a lifetime in his ears.

 

“No. But I can only make myself seen every once in a while. Special occasions and ‘emergencies’.” Tadashi explained.

 

“I can practically see those air quotes.” Hiro muttered into his brother’s chest.

 

“Good. I put them there for a reason.” Hiro’s older brother tried to laugh. “Though, I don’t know what they mean by ‘emergencies’ but I better not have to use it.” He half warned.

 

“You’re not going to leave me again, right?” Hiro sniffled and reluctantly pulled his face away from his brother so he could look at him, committing Tadashi’s face to memory, _just in case_ , even though he knew what Tadashi looked like.

 

“Nope.” The elder tried to lighten the mood. “I’m always going to be here, nagging you to do something productive, always scolding you when you do something wrong and stupid – especially if you get hurt from it.” He pulled his little brother back to his chest. “Telling you how proud I am of you. And reminding you to be careful when you go flying, make sure to wear your helmet.”  He tapered off.

 

Hiro let out a little chuckle. “Please visit, ’Dashi. I miss you.”

 

“I miss you too, Knucklehead.” Tadashi pulled away ever so slightly, bent down and kissed Hiro’s forehead. “I can’t appear like this every time, but I’ll visit.”

 

“Will you let me know?” Hiro’s brown eyes looked up at him, pleading.

 

“Yeah.” The elder sadly smiled. “I have to get going for now-” He started to pull away.

 

“Wait!” Hiro latched back on to his older brother, refusing to let go. “I don’t want this hug to end yet.” He buried his face back into Tadashi’s cardigan. “One more minute.”

 

“One more minute.” Tadashi gave in, he’d always give in for his brother.

 

“I’ve missed your hugs, ’Dashi.” Came the muffled confession. “Kept wishing I could hug you one more time. Even only for a moment.”

 

Tadashi gave his brother a squeeze. “Only for a moment.” He mumbled into his younger brother’s hair. “I’m sorry.” He said again, for the umpteenth time in the ten minutes he’d been there. He repeated it again a few more times. “Only for a moment.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I may be conceded, or something involving my ego, but I made myself kinda, sorta cry when I wrote this.


End file.
